#2044 - Blue Goose Tavern, Port Orchard, WA - 2/16/2013

The Blue Goose was established in 1948, apparently by a marine and based on one of several military aircraft that have been known by that name (perhaps the B-24 bomber that disappeared in 1942). It had a fun, lively crowd, and we talked to Mike, and MBA who came back to the neighborhood to care for his parents, and now trims trees and bartends. Mike greets everybody enthusiastically and seems like an ambassador for the area, waxing poetic about the lifestyle and his five acres.

1931 Bay St Port Orchard, WA 98366 - (360) 895-8171
Est. 1948
Reviews:  yelp 

#2043 - Hi Tide Tavern, Port Orchard, WA - 2/16/2013

Despite its location in a sort of strip mall, the "Hi Tide Tavern" exterior has a lot of personality, with hand-painted signage and murals of widely varying skill, and an excellent view of Sinclair Inlet from its patio. So it's a little puzzling that inside it looks like a restaurant that should have "Pantry" in the name. The pastel colors, patterned wallpaper borders, and paintings of waves seem like they belong more in a waiting room or senior center than a tavern.

But the folks there are nice, and we had a pleasant discussion with old friends Ernie and Rollie, who spent much of their lives driving delivery trucks for Wonder Bread and Twinkies, respectively.

The menu claims that the Hi Tide has been here since 1926, although it would not have been a tavern since then, and the current building appears to date back to the 1990s. I would have very much liked to have seen the previous version(s).

1371 Bay St Port Orchard, WA 98366 - (360) 876-2248
Reviews: yelp 

#2042 - Pour House Pub, Bremerton, WA - 2/16/2013

An interesting mixture of punks and navy guys, with some fairly good pizza and beer.

(Note: Original Bremerton Pour House was 3 blocks from this one.)

312 Naval Ave Bremerton, WA 98337 - (360) 377-6250
Web site: facebook
Previous bars at this address: Red Rooster, Blue Jacket
Reviews: yelp - urbanspoon 

#2041 - Fuzzy Naval, Bremerton, WA - 2/16/2013

A classic dive bar that appears to have been around since the 30s or 40s (although I found no bar listed at this address until Jesse's Tavern in 1960). It was remodeled in the 70s, and which hoists a fairly boisterous crowd of regulars.

416 Naval Ave, Bremerton, WA 98337 - (360) 782-5487
Previous bars at this location: Jesse's Tavern (1960s)
Reviews: urbanspoon - yelp

#2040 - Wig Wam Pub, Gorst, WA - 2/16/2013

"Gorst, located on the shores of Puget Sound, is primarily a town consisting of stores, auto dealerships, topless espresso stands, and the county's only strip club." -- Wikipedia

The community of Gorst, sitting in the middle of the Kitsap peninsula where the highway forks around Sinclair inlet, is not a major destination for visitors. But just off the current highway, and easy to miss, is a nifty little tavern with character and history -- and a lot of fine northwest beers.  The Wig Wam was built in 1933, right in time for then end of prohibition, and burned down in 1961. A new concrete version was constructed in 1952. It was closed down for several years recently, and only opened again in 2012 because locals kept dropping by asking the new owners about it. It now features a very nice beer selection and good barbecue.  A bit more historical detail from the Kitsap Sun:

'The tavern was operated by Cliff Whitney and later a second generation, the Chamberlain family. The building burned in 1951 and was resurrected in concrete in 1952....  Lila Goakey ran the Wig Wam with husband Loren from 1973 through 1996.... The Goakeys sold out before Loren's death in 2001. Buying the tavern was a woman who changed the name and got rid of the iconic tepee on the sign. The place did not thrive, and closed in late 2009. There was a foreclosure. The Wig Wam sat empty and disheveled.' 

'Business partners Erik Sweet and George Wood bought the 1.44-acre property late in 2011 with no intention of operating a tavern. They wanted to start a brewery for George's craft beers and may still do so out back where the cabins used to be. As they started cleaning it up, people kept stopping by and saying, "Are you going to open up the old Wig Wam?" said Mike Sweet, Erik's dad, who moved up from Texas to manage the tavern.'

'The new sign, modeled after the old yellow and red one, bears a tepee like those used by Plains Indians, not a wigwam, the traditional housing of tribes from the Great Lakes eastward. The Great Plains motif is picked up on new wood-carved restroom signs, with a chief in feather war bonnet. There's a "liars corner" — a vestige of the old Wig Wam — and a quilters' corner. Yes, the Wig Wam has a nicely appointed area, where ladies ply their craft. Rumor has it the old Wig Wam had ladies who plied another craft in the second story, now gone. "That was something everyone laughed about," Goakey said, dismissing the colorful story as hearsay.'

3548 W Belfair Valley Rd, Gorst, WA 98312 - (360) 813-3548
Est. 1933 - Building constructed: 1952
Previous bars in this location: None
Web site: pubwigwam.com - facebook - blog
Articles: kitsapsun - portorchardindependent - yelp - taphunter

#2039 - MoonDogs Too, Port Orchard, WA - 2/16/2013

Update: After owner Darryl Baldwin died from cancer in 2015, Moondogs Too closed Oct 31, 2016.

Port Orchard, originally "Sydney," is the oldest incorporated community in Kitsap county, and Moondogs Too is housed in a building constructed on the main business street in the early 1900s, shortly after fire had destroyed most downtown businesses in 1895, and after Sydney won a battle with nearby Charleston in 1903 over which town could rename itself "Port Orchard." According to the Moondogs web site, it was originally the Port Orchard Pool Hall (e.g. listed in 1938 and 1942 city guides), became the Port Orchard Tavern in the 1950s, the Harborside from 1999 to 2004, and MoonDog Bar and Grill in 2005. The current owners liked the MoonDog name, and adopted it in slightly modified form when they acquired the place in 2007.

MoonDogs Too now seems to center the small, somewhat touristy downtown area of Port Orchard (which could nevertheless require a lot of police activity on certain evenings). They serve fairly broad selection of mostly typical bar food and drink options, and host open mike nights and booked acts on weekends -- playing either in a small area of the first floor, a stage area upstairs, or on a pleasant patio. It includes a fine old back bar said to have been constructed in the 1880s.

714 Bay St Port Orchard, WA 98366 - (360) 895-2300
Est. 2007 - Closed Oct 31, 2016 - Building constructed: Early 1900s
Previous bars in this location: Port Orchard Pool Hall, Port Orchard Tavern, Boomer's, Harborside, Moondog Bar and Grill
Web site: http://moondogstoo.com - facebook
Reviews:  yelp - tripadvisor - pugetsoundblogs

#2038 - South Pacific, Bremerton, WA - 2/10/2013

This place appears to have a colorful past, and now it seems to want to be a bit of everything: tiki bar, sports bar, D-List style nightclub. I haven't found much info online about previous bars in this space, but I got word-of-mouth info from several different people. From Jenny I heard that they used to have a two-lane bowling alley downstairs, and murals of Popeye-like characters probably done by Popeye creator E.C. Segar while he was stationed in the area during WWII. While they are clearly from the hand of a deft cartoonist, the latter story doesn't really check out, as I later found explained in a Kitsap Sun story:

"Pam Kruse Buckingham of the Kitsap County Historical Society said the facts don't support that story. Buckingham's research showed the building was built in 1913 and it housed Flieder Bros. Grocery until the late '30s. The building remained vacant until 1941, when it became the Rendevous [sic] Beer Parlor, she said. Segar died in 1938, according to his biography on the King Features Web site."

Between the Rende(z?)vous and South Pacific, it has been called "Cheers" and before that, the "Bowl and Bash," I was told. In the bar I talked with Misty, a pretty bartender from Kentucky who calls the customers "Honey," and Ike, who has been in and around the navy and coming in the place for many years. Ike had several stories about the old days of the place, including when it had a mynah that told customers "fuck you" as you walked in the front door, and a drunken night he hooked up with a women and they lost her prosthetic foot.

"Not afraid to over-serve.  I once had a Jägerbomb with each of my first nine beers and the barkeep never batted an eye." (Skattman)

Thankfully, so far it has been able to resist the people and forces that seem to think that urban renewal calls for the elimination of all vestiges of charm and character. It's not the kind of place I would be likely to go to regularly if it were in Seattle, but its jumbled themes seem to work here, and I might be here often.

218 1st St, Bremerton, WA 98337 - (360) 479-1657
Est. Dec 15, 2002 - Building constructed 1913
Previous bars in this location: Rendezvous Beer Parlor (30s), Bowl and Bash, Cheers
Web site: southpacificsportsbar.com
Reviews: yelp - tripadvisor - kitsapsun - waterfront development